you belong with me

chapter 20

It was the day of the Fall Sports Awards at McKinley High. The awards weren't something the students got too excited about. All the families of the school athletes sat in the auditorium and congratulated all the students who beat a personal record or helped lead their team to victory that season. The captain of each team would present these small personal awards, and then the coach would present the awards of the team captain and a coach's award, in which the coach would choose a player they deemed to be the teams "MVP" that season.

Neither Rachel nor Kurt were exactly looking forward to attending the event, but they decided to come to support Finn. Earlier in the school day, Kurt shared the news with Rachel that his dad and Finn's mom would not be attending because they had a dinner to go to that evening.

Rachel and Kurt sat in their math class together, Kurt was paying very close attention to what their teacher had to say while Rachel twirled her pencil around on her desk, her nerves beginning to get the best of her.

Kurt sensed her anxious behavior and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "What's wrong?"

She turned to face him, sucking in a breath, "You don't think the football players will be planning anything against Finn, do you?" Truthfully, that thought had been on her mind all day. She knew the members had some negative feelings towards Finn because of what Santana had told her the other day, and she feared they would do something to harm Finn.

Kurt shook his head, "No, I honestly don't. I don't think they'd have the nerve to pull a prank on Finn this afternoon in front of all the faculty members, and plus, those Neanderthals don't have enough brain cells to pull off an efficient plan. That's why the cheerleaders pull the nasty pranks and they just stick to the slushies."

Rachel nodded, trying to force herself to believe Kurt's words.

"Also, this is kind of supposed to be a nicer event, with the parents being there and everything. I don't think they'd be stupid enough to spoil it," Kurt added, helping to calm Rachel's nerves a bit more.

"You're probably right, Kurt. I just need to calm down. Everything's going to be just fine," Rachel said, mainly to herself.

"By the way, what happened between you and Puckerman yesterday before math class? I never really had a chance to ask you about that," Kurt said, writing down a few notes from the PowerPoint in front of them.

"Nothing much," Rachel replied. "I just told him how Finn's back to the way he was and that we miss the trio we used to have. He's still not really budging though."

"That's ruff," Kurt said. "What about Santana? Any progress with her?"

"A little," Rachel told him. "I think she's moved on from it, mainly because she was never as close to Finn as we were so she wasn't as negatively impacted. However, she said she doesn't plan on being all buddy-buddy with him anytime soon because she doesn't want to leave Puck behind."

"I guess that makes sense," Kurt said. "At least she's made some progress to moving on. I'm sure Puck will see the light soon."

Rachel headed to her locker after her final class period of the day. She intended to stay after school for the awards ceremony considering it started shortly after the school day ended. The, after the awards were over she had plans to go over to Finn's house for dinner with him and Kurt.

She loved the fact that she was accepted as a part of his family. Rachel always considered the Hudson's as her second family, and now the Hummel's greeted her with the same kindness and warmth.

Of course, the same favor was returned to Finn in Rachel's own family, and her fathers were beginning to take Kurt in as well. Rachel couldn't wipe the seemingly permanent smile off her face, for she was happier than she had been in a while. At least she was until Santana came with bad news.